I'll Go

Xu Yuan and Zhao Afei were still chatting away.

The walkie-talkie suddenly crackled.

But the voice was not Liu Shanxing's. It sounded younger.

"Xu Yuan from Jiangbei No. 5 High School, are you there?"

"I'm here," Xu Yuan said.

"Hello. You've been invited to take shelter at a refuge in the city center."

"Why? What about my squad members?"

"Don't worry about them. Go to the shelter alone. Jade Balance University set it up in the border city."

The speaker had placed particular emphasis on "Jade Balance University."

A flicker of understanding crossed Xu Yuan's face.

Here it comes!

The original Xu Yuan had fallen for this, abandoned his squadmates, and gone straight into a beating from a group of Qi Refining students. They had then thrown him out of the shelter.

Humiliated in public, plain and simple!

Now that I'm doing this over, do you think I'll fall for it again?

"I'm not interested in Jade Balance."

Xu Yuan switched off the walkie-talkie.

"Whoa. I didn't expect Jade Balance University to make an appearance in this whole affair," Zhao Afei said, clicking his tongue.

Xu Yuan said nothing.

Nearby, Yang Xiaobing and Jiang Xueyao looked over at the same time, thoughtful expressions on their faces.

Unlike Zhao Afei, they had been through universities' independent admissions process.

Naturally, they understood far more of what was going on.

Jiang Xueyao's voice drifted over from a distance.

"That was probably Jade Balance University extending you an olive branch. If you went, they might put you through a special assessment."

"Right. Xu Yuan, you might as well go," Yang Xiaobing agreed.

"No thanks," Xu Yuan said with a smile. "That lousy school probably isn't all that capable. This city still ends up destroyed by monsters, doesn't it?"

"Jade Balance is a leading university, second only to Nine Luminaries and Luofu," Jiang Xueyao said matter-of-factly.

"If there are peaks to climb, why bother with ordinary mountains?" Xu Yuan said.

The two women said no more.

His words made his ambitions clear.

He wanted to attend a top university like Nine Luminaries or Luofu!

Both women had long set their sights on the very best universities. Hearing him say that, they felt much the same way.

For the moment, nothing was happening.

The Flood Dragon did not seem to be attacking again, either.

Xu Yuan took a Spirit-Restoring Pill, found a spot to sit, and slowly regulated his breathing.

He had just unleashed the Qiong Jia Sword's divine power, Blowing Snow, and drained every last drop of his spiritual energy.

I need to recover as fast as I can!

After Zhao Afei finished refining his pills, he put away his pill furnace and sat beside Xu Yuan with his eyes closed to meditate.

For a time, a rare quiet settled over the subway station.

Time passed slowly.

When his spiritual energy had recovered to a certain point, Xu Yuan suddenly sensed something.

He opened his eyes and looked toward the stairs at the subway station entrance.

The Giant Ape's corpse.

Strange—

The corpse had not changed at all.

Yet he had "seen" something.

Something invisible had emerged from the Giant Ape's corpse.

It was black and enormous.

It separated from the corpse and scurried across the walls. As it passed him, it let out a roar.

But just as he tensed, it shook its head as though utterly exasperated, then raced past like a gale and headed deep into the subway tunnel.

Xu Yuan tried to move.

But he seemed trapped in a state of extreme tension. Every muscle in his body was taut and refused to obey him.

I can't move!

Calm down.

He forced himself to settle, then—

Breathe out—

Breathe in—

Out—

In—

Xu Yuan shot to his feet—only to discover he had not stood up at all. He had merely opened his eyes.

"...What the hell."

He muttered under his breath, panting hard despite himself, as though he had just come through a fight.

He looked around—

Inside the barricades, people young and old were resting.

Everything was normal.

Zhao Afei sat with his eyes closed, circulating his energy.

Yang Xiaobing had her head lowered, checking her talismans one by one.

No one had noticed what had just happened.

Jiang Xueyao—

She sensed something at once and looked his way.

She had spread a blanket in the corner and sat cross-legged on it, her chin propped on one hand as she met his gaze.

The crimson sword rested against her shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

She silently mouthed the question.

"Did anything happen here just now? I think I fell asleep." Xu Yuan walked over and crouched beside her, speaking softly.

"Nothing happened. You're covered in sweat. Did you have a nightmare?" Jiang Xueyao studied him closely.

"Maybe..."

Xu Yuan stood and walked slowly to the edge of the platform, gazing into the depths of the tunnel.

The tunnel stretched far into the distance.

At the end of the darkness, waves of icy mist seemed to churn without a sound.

Xu Yuan stood motionless.

The Netherworld Passage Art.

He had not yet had time to explore its secrets.

But the ritual it had produced and the world it led to had left a deep impression on him.

So when that feeling washed over him again, he caught it at once.

That huge black thing had gone deeper into the tunnel.

What was it?

Why could I sense it?

If I want answers, I'll have to follow it and see.

But—

This was an exam!

Everything he had sensed—

Was it a question the exam itself had set?

Or was it a secret no one knew about?

Was I sensing it because the exam had recreated that secret?

He had no idea.

"What are you looking at?" Jiang Xueyao asked.

She had come over to stand beside Xu Yuan and was looking into the tunnel whose end they could not see.

"I was thinking," Xu Yuan said, searching for the right words, "if we can't hold this place either, maybe we could follow the subway tunnel all the way out of the city."

"That's an idea. With the Flood Dragon aboveground, traveling underneath should be safer," Jiang Xueyao said thoughtfully.

Xu Yuan's lips moved.

Should I tell her or not?

Should I go?

Or stay?

He glanced back at Yang Xiaobing and Zhao Afei, then at the civilians sheltering in the station.

"If you want to go, go," Jiang Xueyao said.

"But—" Xu Yuan hesitated.

"I'll take care of everything here," Jiang Xueyao cut in. "But make sure you find out whether the tunnel has collapsed and work out a rough route out of the city."

She was sharp as ice and snow. She had understood what he wanted to do at once.

"...All right," Xu Yuan said.

I'll scout it out!

Even if examiners were watching from outside, he had a perfectly reasonable excuse for temporarily leaving his squad.

He handed the walkie-talkie to Jiang Xueyao.

It was their only means of communication.

When Officer Liu arrived with their identification, supplies, equipment, and everything else, he would still need to contact them through it.

"Can you hold this place on your own?" Xu Yuan asked, worried.

"If you can, why can't I?" Jiang Xueyao said coolly.

Now she's getting competitive.

Xu Yuan wanted to needle her a little, but then he remembered she was the one footing the bill.

...She's allowed a bit of a temper.

Forget it, forget it.

"Go on," Jiang Xueyao said.

Xu Yuan nodded, jumped down onto the tracks, and walked into the long darkness.

His figure gradually vanished from sight.

Jiang Xueyao went back and said to Yang Xiaobing and Zhao Afei, who were looking her way:

"He's scouting for a route out of the city."

Both nodded in understanding.

The walkie-talkie suddenly crackled.

"...Xinzhou Road Subway Station. Is this the place?"

A voice asked the question.

"Yes. We're Special Operations Fifth Squad, and we're inside the subway station," Jiang Xueyao said.

"Is Xu Yuan there?" the voice asked.

Jiang Xueyao paused, then replied, "Are you bringing us our identification and supplies? He's on my squad."

"What identification? You've got the wrong idea. This is the Jade Balance Search and Rescue Team. We're about to arrive at Xinzhou Subway Station. Over," the voice said.

Jiang Xueyao turned and exchanged a glance with Yang Xiaobing.

"Could it be..."

Yang Xiaobing trailed off.

"Possibly," Jiang Xueyao said calmly. "There's cover here, and I've set up the formation. You two hold this position. I'll take a look outside."

With that, she climbed the steps and headed out, soon disappearing from their sight.

Zhao Afei was completely baffled. He had no idea what was going on.

"Xiao Bing, what are you two talking about?"

He mustered the courage to ask.

"Something ugly," Yang Xiaobing said without trying to hide it. "You probably haven't been involved in things like independent university admissions, so you wouldn't know much about it."

"Is it something bad?" Zhao Ajiu asked cautiously.

"If a faculty advisor takes an interest in you and tries to recruit you, but you turn them down, this can happen—"

Yang Xiaobing continued in a low voice:

"You've made the advisor lose face, so other students come after you. Partly to prove they're stronger than you, and partly to curry favor with the university's faculty."

"They're going after Xu Yuan?" Zhao Ajiu asked in surprise.

"It's only a possibility... To some people, cultivation means stepping on others to climb higher."

Yang Xiaobing sighed.

Zhao Ajiu caught on and immediately popped another Spirit-Restoring Pill into his mouth, chewing hard.

If a fight broke out later, I'd better be ready!

He looked over at Yang Xiaobing.

She had begun quickly sorting her talismans, laying them within reach and preparing to fight.

Meanwhile.

Jiang Xueyao stood at the subway entrance, waiting quietly.

The streets were deserted.

Several wrecked cars lay across the road, burned down to their steel frames.

Smoke and dust rose slowly through the concrete jungle.

Everything fell silent.

If not for the blood and heaps of corpses throughout the city, it might almost have felt peaceful.

Jiang Xueyao raised her head and gazed at the sky, as though searching for something.

Before long.

Two trucks sped in from the distance and stopped at the subway entrance.

A dozen or so teenagers jumped down and approached Jiang Xueyao, sizing her up.

"Are you Jiang Xueyao from Jiangbei No. 5 High School?"

A boy and a girl at their head stepped forward and asked cautiously.

"That's me." Jiang Xueyao kept her eyes on the night sky, answering offhandedly.

Above her.

Wisps of cloud gathered one after another, drifting to a halt in the gaps of the gray sky, quiet and mysterious.

Where was that Flood Dragon?

Were you hiding, or had you already flown far away?

"Where's Xu Yuan? We need to see him," the boy said.

"He's not here." Jiang Xueyao's gaze shifted as she continued searching the sky.

"We heard he'd been ordered to guard this place. How could he not be here?" The girl at their head didn't believe her.

"He really isn't here," Jiang Xueyao said. "Are you friends of his?"

No one spoke.

Jiang Xueyao lowered her gaze slightly and ran a hand over the Red Sky Sword. The air around her gradually changed.

"Let me make one thing clear. He's my teammate. If anything happens to him, I won't get a high score on this exam."

"So—"

"If you're determined to make trouble and insist on finding him, you'll have to ask my sword whether it agrees."

(End of chapter)